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According to the NYCLU and the ACLU, 16- and 17-year-old children were placed in solitary confinement in Syracuse, New York jail, for benign transgressions such as speaking too loudly or singing.
The ACLU states, “Since 2015, at least 86 children were placed in solitary more than 250 times at the Onandaga County Justice Center.”
The news that children were placed in solitary confinement arose in September when a lawsuit was filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union on the behalf of the children held in the Justice Center. The majority of the children were Black and Latino and many of them have some form of mental illness.
Although these children were charged, most were not convicted of any crime. They were being held at the Justice Center while awaiting court and sentencing.
Many of the children’s families could not afford attorneys or bail, so the children remained in the Justice Center’s solitary confinement for weeks.
According to the ACLU, while in solitary confinement, they spent 23 hours locked up in a small cell, and 1 hour a day outside of the cell, often in a “small cage” for recreational time. They do not receive mental health care or any sort of education while in solitary. Often they are placed near adult inmates who would harass them. Some of the children were forced to shower without curtains and in front of guards of the opposite sex.
This news about what has been going on with children in Syracuse New York unfortunately comes approximately 9 months after President Obama’s speech addressing solitary confinement reform, indicating that the U.S. still has a long way to go when it comes to fixing the prison system. According to the ACLU two of President Obama’s goals were to: “No longer hold people who have serious mental illnesses who ought to be in treatment,” and “Youth under 18 won’t be sent to solitary.”
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